wjcandee wrote:

And -- you're not going to believe this (well, maybe you are...), but there was a SECOND air return by WGN last night, this one at ANC. N545JN departed, switched to departure, switched to Center at about 18,000 feet and climbing, then stopped the climb at 19,000 feet.

No hesitation on this one: "Anchorage Center, Western Global 3953, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Engine 3 failure."

They brought it back in for a safe landing, but, again, it's not an easy task to land an MD11 with an engine out. These guys were on an Eastbound leg from ANC to HSV, so presumably loaded with cargo as well as fuel for the 7-ish-hour flight. Not fun.

One has to wonder whether WGN's practices with respect to green-time engines add to the reliability issues.

At some point, the holes in the swiss cheese are going to line up for these guys. On a night where you have SEVEN of your aircraft flying, you have TWO air-returns after takeoff, for indisputably-serious events. Does nobody in authority notice?

RoyalBrunei757 wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

MO11 wrote:

Cargo Aircraft Management bought the A321 formerly known as G-TCDX yesterday.

Another formerly flown by Thomas Cook! I keep looking to see when CAM's "I (heart) Cook's Club" A321 is going to head inside the PEMCO/Airborne hangars in TPA for conversion. Maybe it's me, but they look busy-as-could-be down there. I see Frontier aircraft all over the place every morning (from the overnight-work contract that Airborne has), plus Frontier in the hangars, plus a bunch of United in and around the hangars, plus Allegiant in the one hangar, plus CAM aircraft (an ABX 763 right now) plus the two (3?) ex-DL 737-700s that they're working on for AAR gov't services. The Cook's Club aircraft seems just to be waiting. But maybe the conversion pace will pick up soon. Perhaps the idea that PEMCO would do a significant portion of the A321 Precision Conversions was optimistic, given all the work they have.

Pretty surprised to see another Thomas Cook airframe being picked up. I was under impression most younger ones already have been picked by charter airlines, older ones by cargo airline after Thomas Cook's collapse; those well worn ones straight to scrappers. Guess I was wrong. Did a run through their historical fleet, found following:

Thomas Cook Group had 43 A321 before it collapsed back in 2019:

Following airframes have undergone conversion/ about to be converted:
1. MSN 1238 G-POWY Titan Airways ntu going to Titan Airways Malta 9H-ZTB - converted
2. MSN 1250 G-POWZ Titan Airways ntu going to Titan Airways Malta - converted
3. MSN 1887 VP-CCG Aviation Capital Group (ACG), going to Cargo Aircraft Management (CAM) N983CM - to be converted
4. MSN 1972 VP-CCH Aviation Capital Group (ACG), going to Cargo Aircraft Management (CAM) N982CM - to be converted
5. MSN 3267 9H-AMQ Avion Express Malta, going to IndiGo - to be converted

Other airframes current status:
In active operation:
2 with Air Air Senegal MSN 1881, MSN 1921
1 with Air Moldova MSN 1366
8 with Sunclass Airlines MSN 1932 MSN 1960, MSN 6314, MSN 6342, MSN 6351, MSN 6389, MSN 6438, MSN 6468
3 with Avion Express Malta MSN 2115, MSN 2234, MSN 3334
3 with SmartLynx MSN 2211, MSN 2912, MSN 3191
4 with Viva Aerobus MSN 5582, MSN 5606, MSN 6059, MSN 6126
2 with Jet2 MSN 6038, MSN 6056
2 with Air Transat MSN 5603, MSN 5872
2 with S7 Airlines MSN 6114, MSN 6548
2 with Nordwind MSN 6122, MSN 6515
1 with Vietravel Airlines MSN 6376
5 with Vietjet MSN 6526, MSN 6615, MSN 7003, MSN 7048, MSN 7055
1 with ThaiVietjetAir MSN 6968

In storage:
MSN 2060 last with Titan Airways G-POWW

Data Source: airfleets.net

Some of the frames, especially those with MSN 1XXX, 2XXXX, have been through several operators, and Thomas Cook frames mainly came from other previously defunct charter airlines, could have chalked up a lot of hours, not sure are they still worthy to be converted. Hope they will convert MSN 2060 18 years young, currently sitting engineless at STN.


G-POWW by Mike Burdett, on Flickr
This photo was taken in July 2020. Since then, the engines have been removed.

wjcandee wrote:

Yesterday, Thursday, January 14, 2022, both of our favorite DC8-73CFs were in the air on revenue service!!

gdavis003 wrote:

Well, I’m out in Wichita, KS this weekend, and I figured it would be worth a shot to go out to McConnell AFB and see if I could catch a glimpse of the Mammoth Conversions 777 (or maybe it’s plural, I can’t remember if they have more than one on property, but I do know that the first one came from Emirates). Didn’t see it, so I presume that it’s inside somewhere on the property. Pretty hard to get around this place due to the AFB security. Hope that progress is being made on it, but it’s a bit of a far-fetched venture from what I can tell

wjcandee wrote:

On a much-more-positive note, I know we saw a video regarding GEO SKY, but I think that JustPlanes also has a new one. This takeoff excerpt is nice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8AA_tkY49g&t=176s

Different crew, also seem professional and the kind of guys you'd like to fly with. 4L-GEN looks gorgeous in the new paint job, and the Rollers just sound so wonderful and familiar on takeoff.

jbs2886 wrote:

gdavis003 wrote:

Well, I’m out in Wichita, KS this weekend, and I figured it would be worth a shot to go out to McConnell AFB and see if I could catch a glimpse of the Mammoth Conversions 777 (or maybe it’s plural, I can’t remember if they have more than one on property, but I do know that the first one came from Emirates). Didn’t see it, so I presume that it’s inside somewhere on the property. Pretty hard to get around this place due to the AFB security. Hope that progress is being made on it, but it’s a bit of a far-fetched venture from what I can tell

I think you’re confusing Mammoth with another conversion program (can’t recall the name, but it’s where Mammoth “split off” from). Mammoth is in Florida with conversions in Fort Worth; it also has orders from CargoJet. But, posters here are somewhat skeptical. Although I’m not as skeptical.

CX747 wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

On a much-more-positive note, I know we saw a video regarding GEO SKY, but I think that JustPlanes also has a new one. This takeoff excerpt is nice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8AA_tkY49g&t=176s

Different crew, also seem professional and the kind of guys you'd like to fly with. 4L-GEN looks gorgeous in the new paint job, and the Rollers just sound so wonderful and familiar on takeoff.

Another great video of an outstanding aircraft. I truly love that the guys flying there to a man state their humbleness and gratitude to be flying a 747-200. There is something about writing 747 in the logbook that on the commercial side, bests anything else offered. To think that sound dominated fortress LHR for British Airways from the early 1970s to just a few years back. Pretty sure BA would love to have back G-GSSD, G-GSSE & G-GSSF right now. Probably trade 10 A350s and a future 1st round draft pick for them.

DLNZ wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

And -- you're not going to believe this (well, maybe you are...), but there was a SECOND air return by WGN last night, this one at ANC. N545JN departed, switched to departure, switched to Center at about 18,000 feet and climbing, then stopped the climb at 19,000 feet.

No hesitation on this one: "Anchorage Center, Western Global 3953, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Engine 3 failure."

They brought it back in for a safe landing, but, again, it's not an easy task to land an MD11 with an engine out. These guys were on an Eastbound leg from ANC to HSV, so presumably loaded with cargo as well as fuel for the 7-ish-hour flight. Not fun.

One has to wonder whether WGN's practices with respect to green-time engines add to the reliability issues.

At some point, the holes in the swiss cheese are going to line up for these guys. On a night where you have SEVEN of your aircraft flying, you have TWO air-returns after takeoff, for indisputably-serious events. Does nobody in authority notice?

Goodness me. It’s at a point where what I thought was a good business model in today’s environment, looks to be a broken model and an increasingly dangerous one.

wjcandee wrote:

jbs2886 wrote:

gdavis003 wrote:

Well, I’m out in Wichita, KS this weekend, and I figured it would be worth a shot to go out to McConnell AFB and see if I could catch a glimpse of the Mammoth Conversions 777 (or maybe it’s plural, I can’t remember if they have more than one on property, but I do know that the first one came from Emirates). Didn’t see it, so I presume that it’s inside somewhere on the property. Pretty hard to get around this place due to the AFB security. Hope that progress is being made on it, but it’s a bit of a far-fetched venture from what I can tell

I think you’re confusing Mammoth with another conversion program (can’t recall the name, but it’s where Mammoth “split off” from). Mammoth is in Florida with conversions in Fort Worth; it also has orders from CargoJet. But, posters here are somewhat skeptical. Although I’m not as skeptical.

Sequoia. They split from the two Mammoth guys. Fantastic web site (kidding): https://sqconversions.com/

Cardude2 wrote:

I posted this earlier but it did not get posted for some reason. Reuters and many others report that: "FAA reviews FedEx proposal to install A321 laser-based missile-defense system"
article: https://www.reuters.com/business/us-faa ... 022-01-14/
when did FedEx get an a321?

wjcandee wrote:

Interesting about AAR. I know they lease some 737s to the military (or at least the US gov't). Would be interesting if the gov't were to want its own Combis. But I guess it doesn't have to be the US gov't.

MO11 wrote:

Yes, N305 came in September, N302 and N306 last week. I just checked, the last two also went to Government Services.

MO11 wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

Interesting about AAR. I know they lease some 737s to the military (or at least the US gov't). Would be interesting if the gov't were to want its own Combis. But I guess it doesn't have to be the US gov't.

MO11 wrote:

Yes, N305 came in September, N302 and N306 last week. I just checked, the last two also went to Government Services.

I had to dig this out of the old thread. N302DQ and N306DQ were resold to the Colombian Air Force.

littlewing347 wrote:

DLNZ wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

And -- you're not going to believe this (well, maybe you are...), but there was a SECOND air return by WGN last night, this one at ANC. N545JN departed, switched to departure, switched to Center at about 18,000 feet and climbing, then stopped the climb at 19,000 feet.

No hesitation on this one: "Anchorage Center, Western Global 3953, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Engine 3 failure."

They brought it back in for a safe landing, but, again, it's not an easy task to land an MD11 with an engine out. These guys were on an Eastbound leg from ANC to HSV, so presumably loaded with cargo as well as fuel for the 7-ish-hour flight. Not fun.

One has to wonder whether WGN's practices with respect to green-time engines add to the reliability issues.

At some point, the holes in the swiss cheese are going to line up for these guys. On a night where you have SEVEN of your aircraft flying, you have TWO air-returns after takeoff, for indisputably-serious events. Does nobody in authority notice?

Goodness me. It’s at a point where what I thought was a good business model in today’s environment, looks to be a broken model and an increasingly dangerous one.

Is #3 engine the tail engine or the right engine?

Spacepope wrote:

China seems to be blocking US passenger flights. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/14/busi ... index.html

Posting this in here since this sudden substantial loss of belly freight capacity will surely have impacts on the greater transpacific air cargo market.

TUGMASTER wrote:

aristoenigma wrote:

Does anyone have full access to ch-aviation newsletter? I saw a flash saying "Qatar Airways secures ACMI freighter capacity". I wondered what that is about. TIA

At a guess, is this what the KF need for 748 pilots is all about…???

wjcandee wrote:

A nifty little tidbit. At least I thought so...

One of the 727Fs we follow, N215WE, had an interesting trip the last two days. Flew from home base to Great Falls, MT (GTF), then flew from there to Fairbanks, Alaska (FAI). Now coming back from FAI to GTF.

You'd think "fish" or "crab", but GTF? Oil field stuff? Interesting!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/TSU215

wjcandee wrote:

A nifty little tidbit. At least I thought so...

One of the 727Fs we follow, N215WE, had an interesting trip the last two days. Flew from home base to Great Falls, MT (GTF), then flew from there to Fairbanks, Alaska (FAI). Now coming back from FAI to GTF.

You'd think "fish" or "crab", but GTF? Oil field stuff? Interesting!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/TSU215

FlyMKG wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

A nifty little tidbit. At least I thought so...

One of the 727Fs we follow, N215WE, had an interesting trip the last two days. Flew from home base to Great Falls, MT (GTF), then flew from there to Fairbanks, Alaska (FAI). Now coming back from FAI to GTF.

You'd think "fish" or "crab", but GTF? Oil field stuff? Interesting!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/TSU215

It actually flew to Fargo before GTF. A one hour turn in GTF suggests a fuel stop only. If I had to guess, they picked up something from Caterpillar in Fargo. Engines or transmissions probably.

FlyMKG

wjcandee wrote:

A nifty little tidbit. At least I thought so...

One of the 727Fs we follow, N215WE, had an interesting trip the last two days. Flew from home base to Great Falls, MT (GTF), then flew from there to Fairbanks, Alaska (FAI). Now coming back from FAI to GTF.

You'd think "fish" or "crab", but GTF? Oil field stuff? Interesting!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/TSU215

CX747 wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

A nifty little tidbit. At least I thought so...

One of the 727Fs we follow, N215WE, had an interesting trip the last two days. Flew from home base to Great Falls, MT (GTF), then flew from there to Fairbanks, Alaska (FAI). Now coming back from FAI to GTF.

You'd think "fish" or "crab", but GTF? Oil field stuff? Interesting!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/TSU215

Glass is where it is at.

You can go glass from the beginning ala the C-172 and never see anything different commercially. Not so for my Uncle's fleet but that's another matter. For anyone climbing the mountains to the majors I say this. Before you get to UA and bid the 737/320 take a moment to pause....

Can you get on at Kalitta and fly steam gauges, in a 727? Seriously, that is an awesome experience. Being able to have 727 as part of your time, in a world of Embraer/Bombardier time builders. You can sit, years later in the 737/320, cruising to LAX and remember back to the dead of winter departure at 2am, in a 727.

10-15 years back, getting unique or old school experiences was still very available. Hire onto Atlas and get the 747-200F fleet. Finding that type of different flying experience gets harder and harder. I say grab it if you can. Back in the day, the USN was pulling its hair out. F/A-18s, mutli-role, glass cockpit, latest and greatest!!! Every bro coming out as top of the class continued to put down as their #1 choice F-14.

CX747 wrote:

Sky Lease Cargo

They are truly hustlers. N904AR since getting some TLC in San Bernadino is just knocking it out LAX, Wuhan, ANC. I hope that small operation is able to grow over the next few years. They have had their 747s going hard for the past 2+ years.

FlyMKG wrote:

CX747 wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

A nifty little tidbit. At least I thought so...

One of the 727Fs we follow, N215WE, had an interesting trip the last two days. Flew from home base to Great Falls, MT (GTF), then flew from there to Fairbanks, Alaska (FAI). Now coming back from FAI to GTF.

You'd think "fish" or "crab", but GTF? Oil field stuff? Interesting!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/TSU215

Glass is where it is at.

You can go glass from the beginning ala the C-172 and never see anything different commercially. Not so for my Uncle's fleet but that's another matter. For anyone climbing the mountains to the majors I say this. Before you get to UA and bid the 737/320 take a moment to pause....

Can you get on at Kalitta and fly steam gauges, in a 727? Seriously, that is an awesome experience. Being able to have 727 as part of your time, in a world of Embraer/Bombardier time builders. You can sit, years later in the 737/320, cruising to LAX and remember back to the dead of winter departure at 2am, in a 727.

10-15 years back, getting unique or old school experiences was still very available. Hire onto Atlas and get the 747-200F fleet. Finding that type of different flying experience gets harder and harder. I say grab it if you can. Back in the day, the USN was pulling its hair out. F/A-18s, mutli-role, glass cockpit, latest and greatest!!! Every bro coming out as top of the class continued to put down as their #1 choice F-14.

Unique or old school experience is useless these days. Get to a regional as soon as possible. Build glass jet time and get to a career carrier as fast as you can. That’s the way to do it.

FlyMKG

wjcandee wrote:

CX747 wrote:

Sky Lease Cargo

They are truly hustlers. N904AR since getting some TLC in San Bernadino is just knocking it out LAX, Wuhan, ANC. I hope that small operation is able to grow over the next few years. They have had their 747s going hard for the past 2+ years.

They were hand-to-mouth for so long, I'll bet their crews are just happy to get the paycheck on time, and the owners are happy to be able to afford to paint the planes, heavy-check the planes, and put a little money away for a rainy day. Such a shame they cratered their 3rd 744 a couple of years ago. They were only keeping 2 busy at the time; just dusted off the one in the desert and went back to work. What could have been...

wjcandee wrote:

CX747 wrote:

Sky Lease Cargo

They are truly hustlers. N904AR since getting some TLC in San Bernadino is just knocking it out LAX, Wuhan, ANC. I hope that small operation is able to grow over the next few years. They have had their 747s going hard for the past 2+ years.

They were hand-to-mouth for so long, I'll bet their crews are just happy to get the paycheck on time, and the owners are happy to be able to afford to paint the planes, heavy-check the planes, and put a little money away for a rainy day. Such a shame they cratered their 3rd 744 a couple of years ago. They were only keeping 2 busy at the time; just dusted off the one in the desert and went back to work. What could have been...

CX747 wrote:

Indeed, it would be nice to see these guys make a move and grab some 777-300ERSFs or maybe a 747 that shakes free elsewhere.

DLNZ wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

CX747 wrote:

Sky Lease Cargo

They are truly hustlers. N904AR since getting some TLC in San Bernadino is just knocking it out LAX, Wuhan, ANC. I hope that small operation is able to grow over the next few years. They have had their 747s going hard for the past 2+ years.

They were hand-to-mouth for so long, I'll bet their crews are just happy to get the paycheck on time, and the owners are happy to be able to afford to paint the planes, heavy-check the planes, and put a little money away for a rainy day. Such a shame they cratered their 3rd 744 a couple of years ago. They were only keeping 2 busy at the time; just dusted off the one in the desert and went back to work. What could have been...

CX747 wrote:

Indeed, it would be nice to see these guys make a move and grab some 777-300ERSFs or maybe a 747 that shakes free elsewhere.

They are one of the out & out success stories of the past few years. It's been great to watch. An ideal machine for these guys for growth would be a 772LR P2F if such a thing ever gets off the ground. Their flying lines of long sectors and high density perishables would suit that machine nicely. Yes I'm very skeptical it will happen.

It brings me on to the overarching theme, of just how are our beloved collection of freight carriers going to grow. Everyone is grabbing whatever they can, picking through scraps, buying three to get one flyable sort of thing. And the parts bin is nearly empty. New build large freighters are years away, the 777-300ERSF program won't scale up sufficiently for quite some time, and it's clear now that forwarders and just not going back to the way things were with their dependence on bellyhold capacity. The Golden God and some others can probably get through by ordering more and more 77Fs, but that's just a cost model which won't be to everyone's taste. And there are missions galore for which light twins like 767s and A330s won't cut the mustard without massive frequency growth.

Just on Aerostan, after letting everyone take a well earned break over Christmas & New Year, both ships are back working hard, with '01 in the middle east, and '02 having cruised overhead CCS on another exotic voyage to Latin America which started in the gorgeous town of Penang. Did someone say they would prefer to fly for a regional?

gdavis003 wrote:

A new arrival to DHN today. LZ-MRX, has been in storage for 2.5 years in Europe. Spent most of its time in Indonesia, most recently with Sriwijaya and Garuda before that. Was in Europe before that, it had been stored at Shannon most recently. Can’t find any information about who it is going to, but with DHN’s current timing on 737 conversions, it will be a while. Of course, it could just be going for paint and not a conversion

wjcandee wrote:

At some point, the holes in the swiss cheese are going to line up for these guys. On a night where you have SEVEN of your aircraft flying, you have TWO air-returns after takeoff, for indisputably-serious events. Does nobody in authority notice?

FlapOperator wrote:

The problem here is frankly the FAA in my opinion. Its obvious that WGA's MD-11 fleet management is facing serious challenges (and we are likely only seeing the tip of the iceberg) but since its a cargo only operator, the FAA seems willing to accept the danger, just like the FAA did with Atlas, and with Atlas it turned out it was only luck that only 4 people were killed, and not 200+ military members and dependents.

I've never understood the willingness of large customers like Fedex or USTRANSCOM to accept the danger that some ACMI carriers seem to represent. Its this circle of trust where USTRANSCOM/AMC can say "well the FAA says its OK" and since there is no one to call the FAA out, here we sit.

wjcandee wrote:

It seems like the WGN issues relate more to maintenance than to crews and training -- at least until one crew zigs when they should have zagged in an emergency. FedEx and UPS can keep their fleet of identical aircraft flying relatively-reliably. The question is: Why can't WGN?

RoyalBrunei757 wrote:

Seems like Air Atlanta Icelandic B747-4H6 TF-AAD pfreighter is now back in Cotswold Airport Kemble, possibly for one last time. It was granted a temporary respite in Nov 2020 to haul some medic cargo from China to UK. Out of action since mid Dec 2020, apparently. The bird was formerly Malaysia Airlines.

Wamos Air A330-223 EC-MTT pfreighter is also returned to its lessor in Roswell. The bird was formerly LTU, Air Berlin.

gdavis003 wrote:

Interesting movement. N990DL was ferried last week from BYH to MDJ (Madras, OR), presumably for Erickson Aero Tanker, which is based there. Interestingly enough, it flew out there as JUS833, which is the callsign that USA Jet uses for its new MD-88 from DL, N833US (USA Jet always uses the three digits of the registration for their flight number, regardless of whether it's a ferry). I guess USA Jet ferried it out there for Erickson, would be curious to see if any modifications were completed in Blytheville. ART is pretty capable, so I'm not sure what the current state of the aircraft is.

OMD526 is scheduled for HND-GTF-BYH in a few hours as a 767-300. This is one that Steve and Bob are on together according to his Twitter, so we'll see what frame this is shortly.

Spacepope wrote:

RoyalBrunei757 wrote:

Seems like Air Atlanta Icelandic B747-4H6 TF-AAD pfreighter is now back in Cotswold Airport Kemble, possibly for one last time. It was granted a temporary respite in Nov 2020 to haul some medic cargo from China to UK. Out of action since mid Dec 2020, apparently. The bird was formerly Malaysia Airlines.

Wamos Air A330-223 EC-MTT pfreighter is also returned to its lessor in Roswell. The bird was formerly LTU, Air Berlin.

It looks like TF-AAD had a lot of scrounging of parts to put her into service. Here she is earlier in 2021 missing engines and leading edge devices.

She may be only rocking Pratts, but I think it’s been decided to not put her through another heavy check and part her out for good.

wjcandee wrote:

FlapOperator wrote:

The problem here is frankly the FAA in my opinion. Its obvious that WGA's MD-11 fleet management is facing serious challenges (and we are likely only seeing the tip of the iceberg) but since its a cargo only operator, the FAA seems willing to accept the danger, just like the FAA did with Atlas, and with Atlas it turned out it was only luck that only 4 people were killed, and not 200+ military members and dependents.

I've never understood the willingness of large customers like Fedex or USTRANSCOM to accept the danger that some ACMI carriers seem to represent. Its this circle of trust where USTRANSCOM/AMC can say "well the FAA says its OK" and since there is no one to call the FAA out, here we sit.

100 percent on the fact that Giant 3591 coulda been a 767 of troops instead of a 767 of cargo. Atlas wasn't restricting what flights in the 767 that very-weak pilot was flying. He had successfully gamed the system. He was aided by the fact that he could very-well articulate the proper way to do a zillion things, without being actually able to do them in the aircraft under the stress of an anomaly in an actual flight. So he was the most-dangerous of all: one who appears to be competent, but isn't.

After Arrow 1285, the AMC went hard-core about a lot of things, including their own standards and safety procedures and stuff. What they didn't do was look at who was flying the plane, because, well, geez, Atlas should be able to get that right, no?

It seems like the WGN issues relate more to maintenance than to crews and training -- at least until one crew zigs when they should have zagged in an emergency. FedEx and UPS can keep their fleet of identical aircraft flying relatively-reliably. The question is: Why can't WGN?

wjcandee wrote:

FlapOperator wrote:

The problem here is frankly the FAA in my opinion. Its obvious that WGA's MD-11 fleet management is facing serious challenges (and we are likely only seeing the tip of the iceberg) but since its a cargo only operator, the FAA seems willing to accept the danger, just like the FAA did with Atlas, and with Atlas it turned out it was only luck that only 4 people were killed, and not 200+ military members and dependents.

I've never understood the willingness of large customers like Fedex or USTRANSCOM to accept the danger that some ACMI carriers seem to represent. Its this circle of trust where USTRANSCOM/AMC can say "well the FAA says its OK" and since there is no one to call the FAA out, here we sit.

100 percent on the fact that Giant 3591 coulda been a 767 of troops instead of a 767 of cargo. Atlas wasn't restricting what flights in the 767 that very-weak pilot was flying. He had successfully gamed the system. He was aided by the fact that he could very-well articulate the proper way to do a zillion things, without being actually able to do them in the aircraft under the stress of an anomaly in an actual flight. So he was the most-dangerous of all: one who appears to be competent, but isn't.

After Arrow 1285, the AMC went hard-core about a lot of things, including their own standards and safety procedures and stuff. What they didn't do was look at who was flying the plane, because, well, geez, Atlas should be able to get that right, no?

It seems like the WGN issues relate more to maintenance than to crews and training -- at least until one crew zigs when they should have zagged in an emergency. FedEx and UPS can keep their fleet of identical aircraft flying relatively-reliably. The question is: Why can't WGN?

bigb wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

FlapOperator wrote:

The problem here is frankly the FAA in my opinion. Its obvious that WGA's MD-11 fleet management is facing serious challenges (and we are likely only seeing the tip of the iceberg) but since its a cargo only operator, the FAA seems willing to accept the danger, just like the FAA did with Atlas, and with Atlas it turned out it was only luck that only 4 people were killed, and not 200+ military members and dependents.

I've never understood the willingness of large customers like Fedex or USTRANSCOM to accept the danger that some ACMI carriers seem to represent. Its this circle of trust where USTRANSCOM/AMC can say "well the FAA says its OK" and since there is no one to call the FAA out, here we sit.

100 percent on the fact that Giant 3591 coulda been a 767 of troops instead of a 767 of cargo. Atlas wasn't restricting what flights in the 767 that very-weak pilot was flying. He had successfully gamed the system. He was aided by the fact that he could very-well articulate the proper way to do a zillion things, without being actually able to do them in the aircraft under the stress of an anomaly in an actual flight. So he was the most-dangerous of all: one who appears to be competent, but isn't.

After Arrow 1285, the AMC went hard-core about a lot of things, including their own standards and safety procedures and stuff. What they didn't do was look at who was flying the plane, because, well, geez, Atlas should be able to get that right, no?

It seems like the WGN issues relate more to maintenance than to crews and training -- at least until one crew zigs when they should have zagged in an emergency. FedEx and UPS can keep their fleet of identical aircraft flying relatively-reliably. The question is: Why can't WGN?

Don’t leave out a important piece of information. He lied about his previous failures in order to get hired. Had he been upfront about his failures, doubt he would have been hired.